Fortune and Fame
by eclarefanxxx
Summary: Clare Edwards is the younger sister of famous actress, Darcy Edwards. Being the younger sister of a celebrity isn't all the fun it appears to be. With wealth and fame, Clare is forced to choose between two worlds: Love&Writing or Fame&Acting. Who can help her keep her head through it all? Eli Goldsworthy. ECLARE.


Fortune and Fame

"Clare Edwards! Can we please get an opinion on Darcy's newest movie?"

"Clare! Over here, Clare! Could we please get a picture of you? I'm with _Seventeen _magazine!" A tall woman with bleached blonde hair and overly whitened teeth grinned and snapped a picture of Clare, nearly blinding her with the flashing lights.

"Clare Edwards, over here! What is your opinion of your sister's rising fame?" A male reporter yelled frantically, cameras clicking everywhere and sending blinding flashes of light as Clare squirmed her way through the crowd.

Helen glared at the reporters as Randall and one of the Edwards' body guards cleared a pathway for the family to the limo before they were to drive away fairly quickly.

"I swear, those paparazzi have no shame whatsoever! They think it's perfectly acceptable just to invade a fifteen-year-old girl's privacy like that!" Helen scoffed, sliding into the car after he daughter and Randall and slamming the door shut behind her. The cameras continued to go off, but there was no stopping them anyway. The paparazzi had been following the Edwards family everywhere they went ever since Darcy's film career started seven years ago.

Randall rolled his eyes in agreement before running a hand through his sandy blonde hair. "Whatever, Helen. With fame comes a price,"

"That's easy for _you _to say, Mr. I'm-So-Successful-And-I'm-An-Agent," Helen snapped back, reaching towards the fancy mini fridge and sipping a wine cooler.

Randall leaned back in his seat, less than amused. "You and I both knew what we were getting into when Darcy began her acting career at age fourteen. She's getting to be really famous, Helen. On the cover of every popular magazine recently," he remarked, smirking at the success he had brought his daughter through being her agent and voice in the Canadian acting industry.

Helen rolled her eyes, turning to face out the window. "You are _so _immature." She hissed.

Clare peeked out from under her auburn bangs with her crystal blue eyes, always attempting to hide her face whenever her parents fought. "Are you two done now?" she snapped, irritated and fidgeting with the sparkly gold designer dress Helen had insisted that she wear to her birthday dinner tonight which Clare guessed must have cost no less than $2,000.

Her parents ignored her, steaming in their own anger as the limo driver pulled into through the gate leading to the Edwards mansion.

Shaking her head of shiny auburn curls, perfectly styled for an hour by her personal stylist, Clare gingerly stepped out of the limo, trying to balance herself in her five inch heels. She hobbled past the limo, past the family's horse stables, and followed the granite rock path leading to the front door of the giant house. She became irritated, more so, when the family maid, Marsha, opened the door before she could even get the chance of getting her house key out.

"Miss Clare, you look beautiful tonight. Happy 15th birthday!" Marsha smiled, straightening out her apron. "I just baked your cake!"

Clare smiled in return, her feet hurting as she slipped off the high heels that her mother forced her to wear tonight. "Thanks, Marsha," she said softly, pulling the woman into an appreciative hug. She and Marsha were close; the family had hired Marsha to be the maid and nanny of Darcy and Clare when Darcy began her short-term modeling career at age six. With Darcy's career beginning, neither Randall nor Helen had much time to stay with the children during the day, since Helen was still working in her law firm and Randall was busy representing uprising teen stars and making plans for his daughter's fame that he wanted so badly for her. Marsha and Clare were close, considering Clare was usually the quiet one, not outgoing and wild like her sister. Darcy was always sort of a brat to Marsha, refusing to cooperate with anything the poor woman said if she didn't have it _her_ way.

Marsha laughed airily as Clare pulled away and gestured for her to go up to her room. "Your computer's been going off all day! Getting messages of some sort," she made her way back into the family's large kitchen.

Clare, carrying her shoes, bounded up the stairs to her bedroom. Inside the room, hot pink walls and a large white desk complete with a computer chair and large Mac desktop computer were visible, along with a fluffy white sheepskin decorative rug imported from China spread out next to the giant, King-sized bed which was covered in pillows and a pink duvet. She dashed over to her computer, hopped into the chair, and logged into her email account. She had been waiting _days _for the results of the writing contest she had entered in on a local literature website.

"OH MY GOD!" she screamed, eyes glued to the screen.

_Congratulations, Clare Edwards! We are proud to inform you that you are the first place winner of the Toronto Literature Imagination website! T.L.I. would like to offer you a full scholarship to the Seaside Heights School of Creative Writing in Los Angeles, California! Your scholarship money and additional information is in the attachment to this email. Thank you for your submission: A Day in Heaven! _

"MOM! DAD!" Clare screamed, jumping up from her desk and running downstairs. "Mom! I need to show you something!"

Helen looked up from her place at the dining room table and placed her hand over the receiver of the telephone. "Can it wait, honey? I'm on an important call with Mr. Matlin. I'm planning Darcy's audition for _Love in Paradise." _

"Well, actually, I-"

"Clare," her mother shot her a warning glance. "If you don't leave me alone right this second, I am not taking you to get your weekly mani/pedi tomorrow!" she seemed very serious about this "terrible threat". "Yes, Mr. Matlin, I'm sorry, my daughter is being very rude. No, I understand. So, about this audition…"

Clare rolled her eyes and grabbed a Vitamin Water out of the fridge, catching the sympathetic glance Marsha shot her. Shrugging her shoulders, she wandered up to her room and slipped into her BCBG sweatpants and a plain gray T shirt. Her iPhone started to vibrate under her stomach when she flopped down onto her bed, and she weakly picked it up. "Hello?"

"Hey, Clare-Bear! It's me," her sister's perky voice came through the iPhone's speakerphone. "Happy fifteenth, baby sis!"

Clare noticed sister's slightly slurred speech. "Darcy, are you _drunk?" _

"Maybe a little bit," she giggled on the other line, and Clare heard Darcy's friends Holly J Sinclair and Manny Santos screaming in the background. When she noticed Clare's silence, she quickly said, "Oh, _come on. _I turned 21 last month, Clare. I've been legal to drink since I was nineteen."

Clare received an uneasy feeling in her stomach. "I-I know, Darcy. I'm just worried." She was recalling the time where Darcy had to cancel her last movie two years ago for rehab, which thankfully had slipped under the notice of the paparazzi. The only other people who knew were Jenna Middleton and Imogen Moreno, Clare's best friends. She could make out Katy Perry's "Last Friday Night" blasting in the background, notably deciding Darcy must be at a club living it up with her friends while she sat at home, bored.

"Look, Clare, I gotta go," Darcy slurred, and the line went dead.

"Oh, lord," she rolled her eyes and sat back in her computer chair again. A new message on Gmail Chat was waiting for her.

_Eli Goldsworthy: Hey, Clare! How are you? I just wanted to let you know that my family is moving back to Toronto from Ottawa in a week! So excited to see you again! _

_ Clare Edwards: No way! I've missed you so much! You've been gone for, like, a million years! _

_ Eli: Try five years, Edwards. _

_ Clare: Regardless! I still miss you! How's the family? _

_ Eli: Everything is going well. And you? How is your sister? _

_ Clare: She's all anyone cares about nowadays; parents are fighting nonstop. _

_ Eli: Any good news? *frown*_

_ Clare: I just won the Toronto Literature Imagination contest. It means a full scholarship to… Seaside Heights School of Creative Writing! _

_ Eli: Isn't that in L.A.?_

_ Clare: Yeah, but it's only a two month program, and it starts in the fall. _

_ Eli: Well, I'm happy for you. Listen, I have to help my parents pack up the rest of the boxes, but I'll see you in a week, neighbor. *wink* _

_ Clare: Alright, Mr. Creepy. _

_ Eli: Ouch, that really hurts deep in the heart and soul, Clare. Bye! _

_ Eli Goldsworthy has signed off. _

Butterflies invaded Clare's stomach as she realized what exactly was happening here. Five years ago, when Clare was ten and Eli was eleven, the two of them used to do everything together. They would ride Clare's palomino horses together, go on adventures in the woods much to Helen's dismay, and they would hang out literally every single day of the summer. Even at school, Eli was her rock, guarding her from guys who would corner Clare and tell her how hot her sister was. Eli had been her rock the entire time that he had lived next door to the Edwards family. His father was a shock jock for the popular radio station, Solid Rock 98, and his mother, CeCe, was a former singer and dancer, that is until Eli was born. Then, his mother had quit her career, but the wealth had definitely spread, and Eli understood what it was like to be followed everywhere by the press.

"Oh, great, the Goldsworthy's are moving back in!" Helen shouted happily from the kitchen.

Randall shouted back, "Seriously? They've been gone for five years."

"Well, I'm happy." Helen said happily, since she was good friends with CeCe.

"No one cares how you feel, Helen." Randall replied hotly.

Oh God.

Clare cringed as she heard the loud smacking sound of her mother's hand against Randall's face. "YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A JERK."

"I HATE YOU!" Randall screamed, and he quickly ran up the spiral staircase into the master bedroom, which could easily be mistaken for being a fairly decent sized apartment.

Clare watched as he started throwing clothes and belongings into his large suitcase. "I'M LEAVING, HELEN." He shouted angrily, and Clare's eyes watered with tears at the sound of his angered voice. "Honey, happy birthday. Have fun spending it with this _bitch of a mother_ you have!" Randall addressed Clare, dropping a quick kiss on her forehead and whipping out his Android. "Hi, yes, I'd like to request a flight to Florida. Don't tell me to wait while you put me on _hold! _That's _my private jet! I own it!" _he barked into the phone, rolling his eyes and walking straight out the door.

"Great. Maybe he won't come back this time. It's not like I didn't find that damn slut's bra that he's been cheating on me with on the _floor of my bedroom!" _Helen laughed to herself, and Clare heard every single word she was saying from her perch in her bedroom doorway.

Clare, eyes overflowing with tears, finally just slammed the door to her considerably huge bedroom, ran over to her bed, and cried her eyes out on the fluffy pillows.

_The Very Next Day… _

"Darcy Marie Edwards, what is this?" Helen slapped a copy of _US Weekly _on the marble countertop as a very hung over Darcy slumped into one of the kitchen stools.

On the very front cover of the magazine, in large bold letters, **TEEN STAR DARCY EDWARDS GONE WILD! **A photo of Darcy sticking up her middle finger to the camera with a cocktail in her other hand was on the cover, her long and silky brown hair wavy down her shoulders and her light brown eyes dilated from the alcohol.

"Ha," Darcy snorted, pouring herself a cup of coffee. "I was _just trying_ to show the press who's boss! _Me!" _

Just then, Clare walked down the steps, and into the kitchen wearing her silky blue Victoria's Secret robe and matching slippers with a thick pink headband nestled in her short curls.

"Oh, look! It's the fifteen-year-old!" Darcy grinned, enveloping a very tired and disoriented Clare in a hug.

Clare shot her mother a pleading glance just as Darcy pulled away from her. "Wait, where's Dad?" Darcy asked confusedly.

"Florida," Clare answered just as Helen opened her mouth.

Helen shot her daughter a stern look as Darcy began to braid her gorgeous brunette hair. "Wow. He goes on vacations too often. Hey, Mom, I'm hanging with Katie today."

"Oh, no you're not." Her mother said sternly, hands on her narrow hips.

Clare gulped down orange juice, worried about what her mother and sister's disagreement would bring upon the already broken family.

"Excuse me? Mother, you don't get to boss me around. I'm 21 years old, and I can make my own decisions!" Darcy shot back. "So what if the press got a bad shot of me? It's not like I was drinking underage!"

Helen narrowed her eyes. "Do you even know what kind of influence you are bringing upon Clare? Your sister wants to start a career, and you might ruin that for her by acting like a wild animal in all the clubs of Toronto!" she continued with, "Oh, and not to mention you're making Holly J and Manny look very bad when they get caught in these photos with you. Why can't you just be decent? You're lucky I'm even allowing you to drink after that little rehab stunt you pulled two years ago."

Darcy's eyes widened and she slammed her coffee mug down in anger. "Who _cares _how Holly J and Manny look? They're just extras!"

Helen rolled her eyes at her oldest daughter. "So not the point, Darcy. The point is, one more stunt like this, and you're headed straight back to rehab. No more drinking. You're done."

"MOM! That's not _fair!" _Darcy whined.

Helen shrugged. "That's the consequence. Now, be a _big girl _and go get ready for your audition today. Katie's father is ready for you. Then, if you behave, _maybe _I will allow you to sleepover at Katie's tonight."

"Yay! Bye, Mommy!" Darcy squealed, and ran up the stairs. "Oh, and guess what, Mom? I'm dating Keith again!"

Both Clare and Helen exchanged looks of horror. "Great," Clare muttered.

Having a famous older sister isn't as great as it looks to be.


End file.
